December and January caching

Victoria trip

Caching for Challenges
It always seems when I travel somewhere I tend to look towards finding Challenge caches and my recent trip over to Victoria was no exception. I found a total of 6 challenge caches that had to do with the Jasmer chart, that I was able to log as I have completed the challenges. The Jasmer chart is explained a bit more in one of my previous "Blogs"

I also found an old cache that was published in October of 2003, that I needed to fill a spot on my Jasmer chart to finish off my 2003 caches.

 

 

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I also made a trip to the Landsharkz store. They have a very cool cache box right outside their store.

The box is locked and using the newspaper on the front, you can find the combination to the lock. Very Cool!!!

 

Speaking of challenge caches, I was recently out in Mission for a Magic gathering and had time to grab another challenge cache called Streak Challenge. Yup its a sickness!!!

New Years eve and New Years day cache souvenirs

 

This New years Groundspeak was giving away 2 new souvenirs if you found a cache on New Years Eve, and New Years Day. As you can see by the pics, I got both!!!

 

 

 

The Yukon

A few years back in 2012 I traveled to the Yukon for work, and I did as many caches as I could while there(There is much less caches up where I was than here at home) In fact I ran out of caches in the town I was in, so I had to travel greater distances to keep caching, as you can read about in a few of my past blogs, here, here, and here!! While up there, I did one in Whitehorse on one of our few trips to the big city, that was a simple magnetic key box but it was at a very cool huge Copper Nugget. Recently my wife Angelcheeks(also known as Jenna) was up in Whitehorse on Business and she got the same cache, but as you can see by the following pics, we were there at much different times of the year. lol

Dec 2015

June 2012

 I have been contemplating the challenge cache Geo-Mentors Challenge for awhile, and thought I could get it with my friend and fellow magician, Close Up Matt. (To claim this challenge cache, there must be at least two cachers finding it together - one cacher with less than 100 finds, and one cacher with more than 1,000) Then I noticed he was creeping up on the 100 mark, so we made a plan to meet up after I was finished work and go grab this one to get it off my list. Plus this would be his first Challenge cache. This was number 97 for him and then we even went and grabbed another cache close by to bring him to 98. I then dropped him off at the skytrain station in New Westminster and headed home. About an hour later he called me to let me know he did not get the train right away and went and grabbed 2 more caches in New West to bring up his total to 100!!!! Congrats again Matt!!!

 

 

 

Well that's it for this month

Keep on caching

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

 

 

 

 

Yukon to BC to Alberta to BC and back to the Yukon.

For those that have been following my blog, you would know that I have been up in the Yukon for the past few months. This week I got to head home for a week, but I would not stay home, as we decided to go visit my family in Alberta.

So I left Watson lake and got to the airport in Whitehorse to fly home. My plane was delayed so I had time to go grab the cache nearby that I did not get last time I was here. Nearby the cache is a plane on a pole, and as I looked at it I was sure that it moved. Upon further inspection I realized that it does move.

                                                           CF-CPY, "The World's Largest Weather Vane"
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory Starting in 1977, the Yukon Flying Club restored this northern veteran to its Canadian Pacific Airlines colours for permanent display at the Whitehorse airport. The restoration took four years, but in 1981, she was raised onto the pedestal built by master welder Al Jacobs. Pivoting on its mount, CF-CPY always points into the wind, just as she would have while lined up on the runway for takeoff. Due to the fine balance point, it only takes a 5 knot wind to turn her.

 

Road trip to Alberta

Once home, I repacked and was ready for adventure with my sweetheart, my new baby, and the boys. The plan was to go from home to Victoria for one night as I had a show to do. The next morning we headed out to grab a ferry and we were off on an adventure.

The first stop(other than baby feeding stops, of which we had many) on the mainland was Hope. I have passed the cache at the entrance to Hope, at least a dozen times while on road trips and tours, but today was the day to finally get this one off my list.

The next stop after Hope was the Othello tunnels and some caches within. This area is where the movie Rambo First Blood was made.

“In November of 1981, Hollywood film crews began to transform Hope, BC into a rural American town for the filming of the blockbuster hit Rambo First Blood. Over the next several months Hope and the Fraser Canyon experienced gas station explosions, gun fire and stunt men. The Success of Rambo First Blood led into a series of 4 film made from 1981-2007

Rambo fanatics from around the world travel to the small town of Hope, BC to get a glimpse of what people now call Rambo town.”

 

Located in the most rugged section of the Coquihalla Canyon, the Othello Tunnels have a great history and scenery and make for a nice leisurely walk. Engineers forged through mountain cliffs and over raging rivers to construct a series of bridges and tunnels that blast through the rugged terrain.

If you get a chance to walk this trail, I would highly recommend it.

We stopped in Clearwater, BC for the night and would head on down the highway in the morning.
The next morning, Welcome to Alberta!!!

On the way thru Jasper we did not see as many animals as we have in the past, but we grabbed a few caches and even did a couple of cool Earthcaches.

Sand Dunes at Jasper Lake Earthcache

We made it to Fort Saskatchewan where we would stay for a couple of days. This is the town that I grew up in some several years ago. While staying here we took in a day at West Edmonton Mall. While living in Edmonton years ago, this is the mall where the Magic bug bit me. I even managed the Magic shop in the mall for awhile. We spent the day relaxing in the water park and enjoying some of the slides.(no line-ups midweek)

After our few days of visits, it was time to start making our way home. We started to head towards Calgary where we would make a brief stop. But as we were leaving Edmonton, I noticed that there was a new cache in Leduc. A quick stop and an FTF was in hand. (Yes.... I have notifications set for new caches where I am travelling. One of the many reasons to be a Premium Member)

On the highway further down the road, we came across what we thought was a transformer heading down the hwy.  But it was just some farm equipment being moved.

Going through Banff we did not see much again in the way of wildlife as we have in past years. They now have a lot of fences and some cool looking bridges for the animals to get across the highway safely.

 Banff National Park

Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The park, located 110–180 km west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses 6,641 sq km of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends from Lake Louise, connecting to Jasper National Park in the north.

We stopped for a cache just coming into Golden, BC which was placed behind a huge painted Inukshuk.

We headed a bit further up the road to Revelstoke, where we would spend the night.

The next morning we headed down the road as our next stop was Kelowna.

Coming up towards Kelowna we stopped at Dave's goat walk

Dave's Goat Walk

A place we have stopped before, the kids love to feed the goats. Here I was able to complete a challenge cache. A quick stop in Kelowna for a visit and we were on our way back to the island.

We got home just in time for me to unpack, repack and head back to the Yukon for my last turnaround. Sitting here in Watson Lake on Thanksgiving day, writing this blog, and looking forward to my return trip home.

Till next time, keep on caching

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

What to do??

With the closest geocache to get being 140km away and I need to save it until Thanksgiving as I need it to complete the
VLH-11-11-11 Challenge, I decided to head down the highway to do something else today.

I started out this morning thinking I would place a cache up here in the Yukon. I headed to a spot that I had stopped at before on one of my Whitehorse trips that I thought would be an interesting place for a cache. It was about 120km away. On the way there I made several stops to check out the scenery and took lots of pictures. One stop along the highway I noticed something big, brown, and moving off in the distance down near a small river. I was able to get off a few shots with my camera of a couple of moose moving thru the swampy area.

Moose

 

I continued down the Alaska highway marking cool looking spots with my GPSr knowing that I would stop on the way back to check them out.

I had talked to my wife(Angelcheeks) the night before and was telling her about this spot I was heading to, and she suggested that it may be able to be an earthcache. I got to the rest area that I wanted to place a cache at, and upon further investigation I decided I would try to get it published as an Earthcache.

The object of an EarthCache is to learn something about our planet. The reward is the lesson, not the trinkets in the container. Also, many EarthCaches are being developed in places where it is against the law to leave a container, such as in National Parks and at Geological Monuments.

Well, now I still had a fully stocked medium sized lock'n'lock container in my backpack...what to do with it?? Maybe one of the cool spots I marked along the way would prove to be worthy of a cache.

So off I head back towards Watson Lake, stopping at some rest areas and such. One of the places I stop is the Rancheria Falls recreation site.

I check out the area and notice the trail map and decide to grab my backpack and can of bear spray(Bears are everywhere up here) This is the first trip I took where I did not see one.

 

 

I head on down the trail which quickly turns into a well maintained boardwalk.

 

I get to the end and come across the viewpoint area overlooking the falls.

I believe this is a great place to put a cache to bring people here to see this beautiful view.

I take a bunch of photo's, hide the cache just under the viewpoint boardwalk area, mark it with my GPSr and head back towards the parking area.

On the way back to town, I make a few more stops, and take a few more pics. I even stop at the fire hall in Upper Liard to complete a worldwide geocaching challenge. (challenge caches are new to geocaching where you have to take a photo of yourself at a specific place, or doing something specific)

I also submitted a Challenge cache this week as well.

All in all a great ending to the week. This coming week I get to go home to my wife, new baby, and kids. Then we are off to Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, and Kelowna (all within 1 week) but you will have to wait to read that adventure in my next blog.

 

 

Keep on Caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65



Holiday Caching

The title Holiday Caching, does not mean being on holidays and grabbing some caches(although I do that also), what I am talking about is a challenge cache that was published last year in 2011 on Rememberance day, 11th month, 11th day, 11th year. It is called VLH 11-11-11 Challenge
The way to be able to claim this cache and log it, is to find a cache on every BC stat holiday. There is 11 of them in total(Until 2013 when we will have one added)

For the last couple of months, I have been up in the Yukon working. This could make getting caches on a holiday a wee bit tricky. You see the challenge says they have to be BC caches. While I am only about 20km from the border of BC, some of the nearest caches are not so near. There is a couple just across the border(one east of here, and the other west of here) I got one of them when I first came up this way as it was a FTF. The other one I was able to use on Canada day. The next holiday rolled around on BC day. This was a bit tougher as the nearest BC cache now was 130km away from me.
Well after working a full 10hr day, I headed down the hwy.

About 30 minutes down the road, I spotted a family of black bears
along the side of the road. (Mom and 2 cubs)
They allowed me to get some great photos.

A little bit further up the road I spotted this!!! I think he wanted in the house as he was waiting patiently at the front door.



I was a bit worried as the caches last log that I was heading to had a DNF on it, and they said they thought it may have been muggled, plus this was a cache that was 11 years old. When I got to the cache area, I got to look out on a most beautiful lake and mountain view. The drive was most definitely worth it. But wait I still had to find the cache. I got to ground zero, and nothing was to be found. Looked in the area for about 20 minutes and was about to give up. Then I looked again at the hint and read it more carefully this time. Looked at the area and found an area that sounded like it could be there. Viola, there it was!!!

I quickly signed the log book, put everything back the way it was, and stared at the view for a few minutes knowing that I was one more holiday closer to the challenge cache.

I then headed back towards Watson Lake. The trip back was much easier knowing I had aclomplished what I had set out to do.

On the way back to I spotted a grizzly bear along the side of the road. He actually let me get about 5 feet away and was able to snap off a few quick pics before heading back down the road.

                                                                         

Back in Watson Lake, 260km round trip for 1 cache. Was it worth it....YES!!! Next months holiday, I will still be up here and the next closest BC cache is even farther away, oh well, looks like another road trip. Till next blog...keep on caching!!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65